Home wine making has been here for thousands of years with really no changes in the basic fermentation equipment and methods.
The past fermentation art traditionally used fruits crushed into juice. Vegetables and grains have also been used to make wine and other fermented beverages. Today wines are still traditionally made from fruits, but the majority are now made from manufactured wine kits made from processed fruits.
While winemaking is a not an exact science and may be varied, the following steps are typical of a commonly employed home wine making method. Wine kits, or fruits crushed into a wine must, are poured into an initial open vertical cylindrical primary pail fermentor with a cover. The volume of wine must poured into the primary pail fermentor is selected according to a specific volume of a separate secondary fermentor, typically referred to as a carboy or demijohn. The primary pail fermentor is then placed in an elevated position, where the wine must undergoes primary fermentation, then is transferred by siphoning with a hose into the air-protected and vented secondary fermentor, and the secondary fermentor is then placed in a elevated position where fermentation process is completed.
Once fermentation is complete the wine is transferred by siphoning again with a hose into a primary pail fermentor for mixing stabilizers, finings and then degassing. The primary fermentor is then placed in an elevated position and its contents are siphoned back into an air-protected and vented secondary fermentor. The secondary fermentor is then placed in a elevated position where the wine is left to rest and clear. Once clear the wine is transferred by siphoning again with a hose into bottles or other containers.
This multi-stage alternating between two fermentors requires the repetitive lifting, including lifting of a heavy wine kit poured into the primary, and lifting of the wine must-filled or wine-filled primary pail fermentors and secondary fermentors.
Transferring of wine by siphoning results in air exposure, with opportunity for oxidization and contamination, thus representing another shortcoming of the conventional multi-stage winemaking method.
Cleaning and sanitizing of all the containers, hoses, tubes, hydrometers, spoons, brushes and other equipment prior to coming into contact with the wine must or wine is repetitive and laboursome work, necessary to prevent contamination.
Mixing and degassing of the wine by manual vigorous spoon stirring or mechanical stirring device in the primary pail or secondary fermentor also results in air exposure with opportunity for oxidization and contamination, thus representing another shortcoming of the conventional multi-stage winemaking method.
Improvements to increase the ease of the winemaking process have resulted in the need to collect more and more winemaking equipment.
Wine is typically bottled by siphoning from an elevated secondary fermentor or primary pail fermentor via a hose into sanitized bottles or other containers.
For many, making wine is not user friendly, as it requires notable strength to lift a heavy wine kit, and one or more wine must-filled or wine-filled primary pails fermentors and secondary fermentors, which is overwhelming or impossible for some winemakers and would-be winemakers. The space required for making wine by these conventional methods may be not be available in one's home. Additionally, the process of cleaning and sanitizing, introducing the wine must to the primary, siphoning, mixing and degassing is all messy work, and so winemaking has generally been restricted to basements or other hidden-away settings.